Halford & Brough in the Morning - Emergency Pod: Quinn Hughes Heads to Minnesota

Episode Date: December 13, 2025

Mike Halford, Jason Brough, and Jamie Dodd have an emergency edition of the show as they break down the Quinn Hughes trade to Minnesota. Hear from Wild Radio Analyst, Joe O'Donnell, with his thoughts on what the Canucks are getting in return. Plus, exclusive audio from Jim Rutherford as he spoke to media. To wrap it up, Thomas Drance stops by to break down the trade from his perspective. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford & Brough. Good evening, Vancouver 703 on a Friday. What is going on? It's the Halford & Brough show, PM after dark on Sportsnet 650. We're also alongside Jamie Dodd in the wake of arguably the biggest trade in Vancouver Canucks franchise history. That's why you've got an emergency show. We'll turn our attention first to Jamie.

Jamie, good evening. Good evening. And Jason Brough, good evening to you. Good evening. So just a few hours ago, the Canucks announced that they traded their captain, Quinn Hughes, the greatest defenseman in franchise history. And we thought we need to get down to the Sportsnet 650 studios to do an emergency show. The exchange, you know it.

We won't get into the details right away. I want to try and lay out as many things as I can quickly. What we're going to do possibly over the next two hours, depending on how much energy we've got in the tank. So we do have audio from Canucks president of hockey ops, Jim Rutherford, who just a few moments ago conducted a call with select reporters. We will also speak to Minnesota Wilde, radio analyst Joe O'Donnell, to discuss the newest members of the Vancouver Canucks.

That'll be at 7.30. We've also got Thomas Drance joining the program at 8.30. So we are going to uncover a lot. of new ground here. I know everyone's been waiting patiently to get on the line. We are not taking callers over the next two hours. I'm just going to put that out there. We'll take some texts though. We are going to take text. Dunbar Limer text message in Baskett is 650, 650. Since Jamie has already been on the air and I've already said the intro, I think it is due time to turn things over to Jason Brough, who is yet to weigh in on the Quinn Hughes trade and has a few things

he wants to say about the outgoing captain. Well, Alford, we've been covering this team. for a while now and you'll probably recall and you probably got sick of my shtick when it came to number one elite defenseman and the Vancouver Canucks you could probably do it by heart I would have this stick that I would say the Canucks have been to the Stanley Cup final three times in 1982 they lost to Denny Potvin 1994 they lost to Brian Leach and 2011 they lost to a team with Zadano and Chara, all three of those guys, first ballot Hall of Fame defensemen.

And I would say that I think if you were going to ask me one reason, why have the Canucks never won the Stanley Cup? I would say they've never had a number one defenseman, not a true guy, and that's meant as no disrespect to some of the very good, excellent defensemen that the Canucks have had, but they'd never had a guy until Quinn Hughes arrived. he was that guy he was

ultra talented he was a phenom and I had him for a few years and they never did anything with him and you know we can have a conversation about you know what these guys from Minnesota

might bring in the upside we have lots of time to discuss that and we'll have lots of time to watch them play and we'll see what comes next for the Vancouver Canucks but I think on the day that Quinn Hughes is traded we should look back and talk a little bit about what they lost

because you know it's a significant loss and you know in life you never know what comes next sometimes when you think something is bad it turns out to be good and when you think something is good turns out to be bad and you know doors close and doors open etc. et cetera, et cetera. We don't know what comes next for the Canucks. But I do think that right now you're looking back at this and going,

this is an organizational failure at the highest level. And maybe it's going to be spun that Quinn was going to leave anyway. I will never buy that because if the Canucks were in a good position, I think he just wants to win. And I think, you know, I think he probably would have re-signed and stayed. Or at the very least, you know what? At the very least, we would have been able to say, hey, man, screw you. Instead of like, I don't blame you for not wanting to sign on.

If the team was good, they just keep them. They wouldn't have traded him right now because you'd say, well, we're trying to win a cup right. Even if he wants to leave and even if he desperately wants to win to go play with his brothers, you'd say, well, we're a Stanley Cup contender, so we're going to keep you. And that was just never an option. Can I also, I mean, there was a question that I asked of Patrick Alvin, and he's probably not very happy with me right now. And I listened to the audio,

and why did it sound like I was just at the dentist? I don't know. Like that was like, hello, ho, hell, if they're a culture problem? Were you at the dentist? What's going on with that? Anyway, I was on my phone. And the dentist.

Yeah, at the dentist. Right. I was like, are we done with this? Yeah. So I just want to see, we're going to try and have a few laughs along the way here because this is not a fun day. No.

A few words on what the Canucks and their fan base have had to deal with in the year 2025 alone. Are we still in, we're still in 2025, right? Yeah. Okay, so it started in January with the trading of J.T. Miller, who ultimately asked to be traded after his rift with Elias Pedersen became untenable. So there's two very popular players, two players part of the leadership group that just could not get along.

And maybe there are some other factors at play there, but that was the main thing. And at least that's what the team told us. Couldn't get along. Jim Rutherford, we got to deal with it and some of you might not like it and the Canucks still reference that they referenced it in the press release they reference JT in the press release

just a second okay then at the end of the season which did not go well their head coach who they really liked and wanted to keep he was like nah and he went back to Philly you don't see that very often

there's a couple things you don't really see very often two star players having a big fight and one of them having to be traded and then the head coach going like I don't know if I want to sign on here long term and you know what the rumblings were when he left is like I bet I wonder if Quinn Hughes leveled with him and said like listen man we're tight

I'm probably not staying here which leads us to today and Quinn Hughes didn't want to stay and the Canucks decided to trade him so that's a big fight between two of the star players one of them gets traded, a head coach that the management really liked and wanted to keep and made a pretty big offer to stay,

he decides to go, and the captain and maybe best player in franchise history, certainly best defenseman in franchise history, he didn't want to stay either. And then the general manager acted shocked when I said, do you guys have a culture problem here? A culture problem?

On the team? What do you mean? On the team. Everything I just said. Okay, quick reset. If you do want to weigh in throughout the next couple hours, Dunbar Lumber text message in Baskett is still alive open and well. 650, 6.50. Send in your thoughts. I know there's a lot of people listening. I know there's a lot of people still trying to

process everything. We'll work through it with you. Jamie, any thoughts you'd like to share? I wanted to jump in there when Brough was going through because he brings up the point about the, and I think we can now bump it up to like the obsession with J.T. Miller, the fixation, whatever you, the just

maniacal focus on that and that player. And to even reference it in, we're almost a year out from the J.T. Miller trade at this point, right? January of 2025. In this press conference, or sorry, in this press release about the Quinn Hughes trade, with the circumstances surrounding J.T. and now Quinn, what are you talking about? That's over. It's over and done. And by the way, he's not playing well. He's playing his way off of Team USA at the time. Like, how can it be? And how many times, this isn't a one-off. How many times have we heard the constant reference to, well, you know, J.T.

You know, at the end of the press conference, end of season press conference last year. They were raving about him. It's over. Move on. Get over it. And chart a new course. It's baffling to me that he would be mentioned in the press conference tonight. Okay, the Vancouver Canucks just lost their captain.

Who's the face of this team right now? It's Elias Pedersen. By default. He's the highest paid player. He was drafted. Fifth overall. We can't kill my microphone. I can't. What do you want me to do?

What are we going to say? It's Philopronic? He doesn't speak. He doesn't do anything. It's Connor Garland. No, it's not. It's Elias Pedersen. There's no other possible answer right now.

The outlook for this season is wild. It's absolutely wild. What the remaining, what is it, 51 games that are going to be left in this season. If you had to pick one right now, rough, like who would the face of the franchise? Because it does matter. It is important. You don't have to refill the captaincy role, but there's going to be people going to games on a nightly basis wondering who's driving the ship.

and who's in charge, who's your best player and who's your leader? Those are all valid questions. Who's the face of the team right now? I mean, it's got to be PD, right? It is. He's the designated survivor. He's the one that managed to stick around the longest.

Right? Yeah. He's, what did the Bain say to the guy? They expect one of us in the wreckage, brother. It's Quinn Hughes to Elias Pedersen on his way out. So who is the leadership group then? Is he part of that? Because who's going to be the guy that they go speaking?

too. I mean, Jake DeBrest seems like he's always willing to speak, but he can't be the face of the franchise. I mean, to be fair, to Patterson. Is it going to be Zeev Bouillon? Possibly. Liam Ogren? Hey, buddy, we got a role for you. You're the captain. Get out there.

I know we're asking a lot, Liam Ogren, but there's a very valid question to ask in the immediate aftermath. And it's not like the Canucks don't have experience in trading their captain. They've done it before. But leadership, exist in a lot of different ways, shapes, and forms.

There's one where you're in a transitional fate, so you don't have a captain, right? And you're like, well, you know, there'll be various guys that'll step up. We know who our leaders are, but this is a franchise that is, I think, so disillusioned about what it is and what it wants to be. And there's obviously an issue at some level with culture. Let's say, let's throw that out there. Well, there's a good culture. Say what you will about the answer given.

There's an issue when everyone is either wanting to leave or is. traded away. And when you're looking at the guys that are left, here's another question. What about all the guys that just committed to this thing long term? Well, let's talk about the timing here. When did the Canucks know that Quinn Hughes was unlikely to resign? Was it before or after they locked up the likes of Brock Besser and Connor Garland to extensions? And what did they know about the situation? And I'll throw that your Demko in there as well. Because that's the most risky. of those contracts, and it's the one that

really only would make sense if you were kind of going all in to keep Quinn Hughes and you just thought we need to chase this upside and net with Demco. On July 1st, if you were under the impression that Quinn Hughes wasn't leaving or was leaving, wasn't staying, I don't know why you're signing that Roger Demko to that deal.

Okay, I'll jump in real quick with what we know. So according to veteran NHL insider Darren, he tweeted out earlier that, quote, the Canucks have known for a while that Quinn Hughes wasn't going to extend. Vancouver believed their leverage was highest in December, January. New Jersey was given a chance to get in on this trade offer. Other teams in the East had a chance as well. But a week

ago, Bill Garron engaged and closed the deal. Now, if you want to take that a step further, as I mentioned off the top, we are going to play essentially exclusive audio. We have the recording of the Jim Rutherford media availability that he did with select reporters about an hour ago. In that call, Jim Rutherford indicated that it was in this past, off season that they understood it was highly unlikely that Quinn Hughes was going to sign a long-term extension with the Knoch's, which begs the question, was it reckless

to make the deals that they made and then also not start rebuilding right then and there. Or did they owe it to the organization, and I guess Hughes himself, to give it the old college try and give it one more shot and see if this season might have turned that

frown upside down. These are all valid questions, but they're ones that this organization is going to be asked, probably over the course of this weekend because there's a lot of questions about timeline that have gone unanswered. Jamie, I'm putting it on the spot here a little bit. All right, but was Alvin asked a question about Elias Pedersen? I asked him a question.

Okay, what did you ask him? I asked him. I wasn't listening. In reference to, I asked, I referenced, okay, past Stanley Cup winners, Sasha Barkov, Nathan McKinnon, you know Sidney Crosby, what is, they have in common, elite number one center, who's also an incredible leader. Do you think Elias Pedersen can be that?

an elite number one center and leader of a Stanley Cup winning team. I don't want to overstate the pause, but there was a significant pause. But then the answer was yes. But then I will note he went on to not really talk about Elias Pedersen. It was not, yes, and here's why I believe in Elias Pedersen, and I'd have to listen back. I don't want to miss any details here and misrepresent the answer. But in real time, how I interpret it was, yes, but it's not just about Elias Pedersen. We've got all these other great players, too, which to me...

Did you really like such as? Well, unfortunately we had to let him go. But to me, that in a way answers the question, but not in the way he thought, right? Because how could you possibly give a fully confident endorsement of Elias Pedersen's ability to be that guy right now? Do they have an elite superstar player now? No. No, absolutely not. No.

They just traded them away. We will get into the return on this trade later, by the way. But I do think the narrative that we've driven through the first 16 minutes of the show, is about what was lost. And I think that's accurate. I think that's fair. I think that's the right thing to do. I don't really feel the need to break down Zeebunum's game.

I don't really feel what projection. Even with your depth of knowledge about it? I know you've been dying to do it. He's my favorite Zeev. Mr. Zee, William. I have always said if I have one Zeev that I like above the rest, it is him. And I will go to my grave saying that. I don't know what Liam Ogren's going to ceiling out at.

I know what Marco Rossi is because we talked about him way too much. quite frankly, over the summer. So we can really go back and use all that research from the summer to rehash our Marco Rossi analysis and takes. But this is about what was lost. And this is about how something fell apart, quite frankly, in stunning and rapid fashion. I know it feels like it was a long time. This dragged us up for a long time. But when I saw the news break at about 4.30 on a Friday, I'm like, I can't believe it got here and it got here this quick.

God damn. There was a lot of hindsight debating before this. trade online today with Gary Mason and Drancer having a bit of a debate on social media. And I guess it is centered around whether or not there was a consensus on that 2020-23 team and whether or not they were quote unquote ascendant. And I was always mixed on the issue because in theory you had some very very very very good pieces going forward. I mean, you had Pedersen and Miller down the middle.

It's good. And you had a number one defenseman in Quinn Hughes. And you had an all-star caliber goalie in Factory Demko. You know, they needed some more scoring. But those things can be addressed when a team goes there. But I still go back to the playoffs where they beat Nashville and then they lost to Edmonton. And I guess there were two big stories there, one that Demko was heard again. But the biggest one for me, the biggest one was like Pedersen's play.

Because, you know, I know a lot of people at the time chalked it up to an injury. And I was like, no, what I'm seeing right now is not just an injury. There's something going on there. And I think in hindsight there was something going on there. And I think that festered. and I could see it playing out like you go into the off season there's already some hard feelings about his performance

in the playoffs probably some players that felt that they could have gone further if he had his game he doesn't have a great off season he comes back and then it gets worse right and then there's the blow-up between Elias Pedersen and J.T. Miller that might have coincided with some other personal issues or whatever you know that's what Alvin at least alluded to

We called it, you know, some personal issues with JT. But I think we all worried a little bit about JT's age and how we was going to age out like we would for any player that was heading into their 30s. So for me, I don't think we expected that team to follow apart to the degree that they did. But I think there were some warning signs about that team. So I haven't been going back and listening to January. 2024 episodes of Canucks Talk like apparently Gary Mason has been over this week but

as I recall at the time There are some receipts that I think I found in the grocery bag. I'm Gary Mason apparently encyclopedic knowledge of Canucks Talk lore which is very impressive. It is a good show. It is a good show. But my point at the time and this was leading up to when they made the Lindholm

trade. It wasn't that this is all going to fall apart right. I don't think anyone was saying they're going to be 30 second in the league in the not too distant future. But my point at the time was this might be the best it gets. And I was saying at the time, sometimes you think you're about to open up this extended window. And I pointed to that Winnipeg team that went to the conference finals and all these young players. And they've won like two playoff series since then. And sometimes you think like, oh man, we're on the cost. This is going to be amazing. Let's just keep our powder

dry and be patient. And you never get a better chance. Yeah, the Winnipeg team had losses that they didn't expect. All of a sudden, Dustin Bufflin's like, like, you know what, I like fishing. And you could point to Chronic needing a new deal, PD needing a new deal. OEL buyout, Miller Age, yada, yada, yada, yada. We had a whole litany as we do on Canucks Stock that we went through over and over and over again. So those elements that are all coming to play were totally foreseeable. And the idea that not that there's this catastrophic drop-off coming, but that that was the peak, the pinnacle, the best shot that group would have. I think that was totally foreseeable at the time, that it wasn't going to be, oh, hey, this is the start of a five-year run of dominance for the Vancouver Canucks.

Okay There's a lot of texts Coming in to the Dunbar Lumber text line If you want to text in 650, 650 is the text line I haven't even logged You know what I haven't even logged in yet

I haven't put on my hazmat suit So I'm not going to log in First of all I want to give a shout out to Jeremy and Abbotsford Because as soon as your guys's music hit He texted in is there a giveaway You guys doing a giveaway Yeah it's infinite sadness pal

Keep your eyes on the prize buddy I love it I don't know there's like 10 million in here. It's honestly whipping. It's scrolling by too fast for me to pick one out. But I would say generally, people are, they're not happy. Okay, you know what, though?

I'll say this. I can, again, I'm not logged in. I can see over my shoulder the countless texts that have poured in, the countless text that we got driving to the station to do this, the call to do this in general. In a very weird and almost cathartic way, this awful moment where they traded away the best defenseman of franchise history has sort of reinvigorated a passion that I have.

have seen lacking throughout the season. And I know that we're almost doing a funeral procession in the first 20 or some odd minutes of the show. So maybe that's... We're all wearing black, by the way. If you're not watching on the stream, we're all wearing black. Because it's slimming. There's nothing to do with being... Is that what it's doing?

Is it working? Based on my shot, no. I will say this. It's weirdly, weirdly gratifying to see this many people on a Friday night where there are countless Christmas parties going on and holiday mixers and get-togethers. There are people that are glued to this right now. Part of this is the fact that it's, I mean, it's the biggest

trade in franchise history as far as I'm concerned. I know there have been others, but I don't think anything matches the magnitude. And we will get into the return because if you want to parse it one way, and I know people are dissecting it a million different ways, like a frog in biology class, but for, the equivalent of four first round picks coming or returning is a monster mega deal. If you're an objective viewer and you don't have skin in the game from the Minnesota or Vancouver side of things, you're looking at this and saying, that is a monster deal. Did you see it, the Minnesota Wild? Like, did you see, did you see that coming? No. Because I, I mean, I was thinking about obviously the ones that have been brought up,

New Jersey, Philly, Detroit. I was trying to push on behalf of the hurricanes. Like, you guys should get him. Yes. You know, one pair with Slavin and one pair with Quinn Hughes. I wonder, I'm sure we'll here are some of the potential deals out there. Some of them have probably been leaked already. The Washington Capitals were mentioned quite a bit, and it sounds like they made a bit of a push. I didn't see it for

Minnesota. What do you guys think about Minnesota's chances? Because here's a team that has never gotten over the hump, and they've had some very good teams. They're kind of like Carolina. They've had some very good teams, and they've just... As much as I love Quinn Hughes, I'm not sure he

pushes that team past Dallas and Colorado, and division. Well, that's the thing. I love the Cajonis. I love the balls. I love the ball. I'm with Colorado in your division. It's a big, big swing. But you also, I mean, they signed Caprizo after that monster deal. They didn't do it just to hang around. Like, they got to try something.

And they can always flip them. They can always flip them this off season. I mean, it makes sense that they would give up a good left shot defenseman in the deal in Zeev Bouillon because with Queen Hughes coming to the team now, Zeev's probably like, I'm not getting much

power play time am i right you know so i i understand that and then marco rossi we all know that there were issues there and then the coaching staff didn't love marco rossi let's put it that way um and marco rossi i hope is going to be excited for a fresh start because uh you know i think the center depth in vanquiry should be able to crack the top six um fingers crossed buddy and uh is David Kemp, sorry, get out of the way. And then Liam Ogren, I know he was a highly touted prospect because I remember hearing him about him.

And that was the year, was that Lekker-O-Macky's track? Yeah, yeah, so I guess he hasn't. He's having a bit of a tough time in the NHL right now, but that happens. Maybe there's some upside in that. But when you think about it, the wild for the player that they're getting, for if they choose, at least,

or at least two post seasons, you know, assuming they make the playoffs this year and next. I mean, that's a deal you do every day of the week. Oh, I would never say no to it. Like, I go on the air every morning, be moaning the lack of moving to the HL. You've got to take a risk every hour again. You've got to do it. You've got to try.

And the excitement that that's going to generate in Minnesota, you know, and, you know, they're not an automatic sellout anymore. So it's going to be huge for the wild. If you have been sitting there patiently wondering what the Canucks are getting in return what kind of player profiles are on their way to Vancouver in this trade. Joe O'Donnell, Minnesota Wild Radio analyst, is going to join

us on the other side of the break. We'll talk to him about the entirety of the package. Rossi, William, Ogren, everyone that's on their way to Vancouver in this blockbuster deal. Quinn Hughes, no longer a member of the Vancouver Canucks, now a member of the Minnesota Wild. We'll be back in a few minutes. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show featuring Jamie Dodd on

Sportsnet 650. 733 on a Friday night. Friday night radio here. Halford Brough, Jamie Dodds, Sportsnet 650. In the wake of the biggest trade in Vancouver Canucks franchise history. I'm saying it. I'm saying it again. I'll say it a third time.

Quinn Hughes now a member of the Minnesota Wild. We're here breaking it down. We've been breaking it down all evening. We'll be here until 9 o'clock. real late night radio here on Halford and Ruff. Here's a little trivia for you Halford. How many times have the Minnesota Wilde been past

the second round in the playoffs? Never. No, they've been there once. Once. And you might remember who they beat along the way. Oh yeah, that's right. I gotta say that was a tough mess. That was a toughness. I do remember now. It was those right down the plate and you

I remember now. It was the Vancouver Canucks. You didn't even have a bat in your hand. But of course. Yeah. But I mean, I think it just goes to show that, you know, this is a team that's making a big move because they want to make a deep run for the first time in, like, two decades. Let's jump to the phone lines now. Very pleased to be joined by our next guest. Last minute call, we appreciate him taking the time to do it. Minnesota Wilde radio analyst, Joe O'Donnell joins us now on the late night Halpert & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good evening, Joe. How are you? Well, it's up, fellas. I appreciate you. me on. What do you mean last minute

guess? This whole thing is last minute. You guys didn't know this was going down today? No. I'm going to tell you something. I was not expecting to be here right now on a Friday night. Do organizations ever release bad news on a Friday evening? I mean, that's good news for the Minnesota Wild. Tell us about the reaction of the fan base.

Well, I was at my kids' band of hockey game and my phone, you know, sorry. I didn't check my phone for a few minutes actually and the next thing I know I'm pull it out I'm looking at the you know text and I'm seeing like all kinds of reactions right and you're going okay but nobody's telling me what the deal was they're just saying like oh my gosh billy gee what a trade or boy big swing I had to jump on Twitter to figure out what was going on um probably shocked as anybody because you know I think we all thought that at some point the Canucks would have to move of Quinn Hughes, the way the situation is sort of unfolded there.

But by no stretch to the imagination, at any point did I think that, you know, the wild were kind of in on it. So good for, I guess, both sides on keeping that part quiet. You know, I knew the Canucks like Marco Rossi. I knew, you know, had that had been reported that, you know, over the summer there was a chance that maybe Rossi getting moved to Vancouver. So that makes some sense to me. If you're replacing Quinn Hughes, you might as well get the comp. that has been Quinn Hughes for the last couple of years as he was about the term pro and Z. Bouillon.

Liam Ogren's a nice player. He just hasn't popped at the NHL level yet, and you get a first rounder. So it's a lot to give up, but I think from a wild fan perspective, once they get over the sticker shock value, I think they should be pretty darn excited with the move that Bill Garron pulled off

to get one of the world's best defensemen. So is it Quinn Hughes with Brock Faber? You know, just driving back from my, from my kids hockey game he was asking me what I thought and we kind of workshopped it and I think that's got to be because look Middleton or excuse me Spurgeon and Brodeen have played together you know obviously they're longtime teammates and they obviously have a lot of chemistry in fact their analytics last year

the pair were really really solid you get the left-right combo with with Hughes and favor and favor adds a little bit more size like I don't think you can really play Hughes with Spurgeon if I'm just looking at it on the surface. And then Jake Middleton, once healthy, can slot down into that third pair role, which honestly, you know, I think if you're talking to a GM or if you're building a team and you're looking at a roster, Jake Middleton's on it.

You're like, in a perfect world, he's probably on that third pair. He's played up. He's done great work with Spurgeon as his longtime V partner the last few years. But if you get Jake Middleton on your third pair now, I think you're a really darn good hockey team on the blue line. Joe, I think it's fair to say Zeev Bouillon will be the centerpiece of this deal, and the

Canucks certainly hope that that's the case and that he pans out. Tell us a little bit more. I know he's a recent first round pick, a very, very productive and successful at the world juniors, at the collegiate level, and already cracking the lineup as a very young player on a regular basis for the wild. What can you tell us about Boeum?

Well, he just turned 20 years old, so, you know, just scratching the surface, right? Like, no age. experience right from Denver, the NCAA ranks to the Stanley Cup playoffs last year. And I think it was a little overwhelming for him and how could you blame him? And so far this year, we've seen a lot. We've seen that offensive ability. He's a super confident kid.

Like, he wants the puck. Sometimes I think less is more for Z. William, if I had to analyze his game. He's the type of guy that probably overhandles it a little bit. maybe doesn't shoot enough as a young player, but you see that a ton, right? So he's very much raw developing, but the edgework is elite, the hands are elite, the confidence in one, two, and the offensive zone. He can be a human breakout.

He has no problem attacking on the power play right at three penalty killer. So you guys know that doesn't always work out, but the confidence he has in his game is something that you'll see right away. And look, I wouldn't overlook Marco Rossi in this deal. Like, he's as hardworking, as humble as a kid as you'll find. He's a great teammate. His point total has gone up exponentially the last two years after, you know, as a first rounder, kind of taking a little bit of time to figure it out the NHL level,

some time in the American League. He's about to return from injury. Like, I think he could have played maybe as early as Sunday, but definitely Tuesday for the wild. So I don't know what the Canucks have this cup. him an up week, but Rossi had a long skate today, like he's ready to return pretty much from injury. So Vancouver's going to get a really good two-way center iceman there. You know, Vancouver Canucks assistant coach, Brett McLean, had Rossi, obviously, with the

wild organization, so there's familiarity there. And he's going to be a really nice player for Vancouver for a long time. And then the third player in the deal is Liam Ogren, who was the first round pick back in 2022. And some good numbers in the HAL hasn't really clicked for him at the NHL level yet. What do you see in Ogren? Yeah, you know, when he first came over from Sweden and got into the NHL roster, the Wild were pretty much out of a playoff spot. He had a couple of games where he scored, had a goal and assist,

I think it's San Jose in April of a couple years back, and you're like, okay, this is a kid that, you know, already you see some promise. For whatever reason, recently at the NHL level, he just hasn't been able to produce. Boy, I'll tell you what, the other night, though, last night, gosh, I'm getting a little bit of a whirlwind. But last set against Dallas, you know, he had a bunch of shot attempts. I think in my notes after the game last night, I was looking over the last two games, like 10 shot attempts for O'Grath.

He was looking more comfortable. I know, you know, they're just talking about a game last night, but he's got size to him. He's got a great shot, a heavy shot. They talk about his release. As you said, he scored at the American hockey league level. It just hasn't translated. up here. Like, I think the wild coaches were hoping he'd be a little bit more

north-south, a little bit more physical, a little bit more like a checking line forward, especially if you're not producing. I think ultimately he's probably a tweener. Like if you get the Liam Ogren that the Wild probably thought they got when they were drafting him, like you're thinking second line is his

upside on the wing. Probably a third liner because of his size, but a good shot. It just really hasn't you know, this year for whatever reason. Look, the Wild haven't gotten any depth scoring to be quite honest for the most part like their third and fourth lines the times have have not been what they need them to be so um ogren's kind of maybe just been part of that right like does that make sense like maybe with better players or more opportunity he'll get more chances

he'll bury a couple it feels like he's a guy that needs one or two to go in and then maybe you know he can have a six or eight goal season you know to finish out the year um beyond that it's really hard to project what, you know, what he could look at in the future. But I think there's a lot of tools there. And as I mentioned, the shot in the size are certainly part of it. Joe, we want to thank you very much for taking the time to do this this evening. Again, I know, as I said earlier, it was last minute, but we really appreciate you jumping on, breaking down the guys that are on their way to Vancouver. Enjoy Quinn Hughes. I don't think I need to tell you to do that. He's a lot of fun to watch playing. We're going to miss them here

in Vancouver. Yeah, there'll be some butts in the seats. I can imagine, you know, for wild games coming up the next few weeks, it should be an exciting time for the franchise, and we'll see where it goes from their long term for both teams. I think it'll be one of those trades that, you know, you're going to look at six months from now, we're going to look at next season, we're going to look at five years from now, and go, oh, that's who the Canucks got, or boy, the Canucks used that draft pick here, or they took these assets and flipped them. I think it'll be very interesting to kind of watch this trade over the next few years.

Well said. Joe, thanks for doing this, man. We appreciate it. All right, fellas, take care. Joe O'Donnell, Minnesota Wild Radio Analyst, here on the Halford & Brough show, featuring Jimmy Dodd, late night here on SportsNet 6. We're going to pivot quickly to some hot audio. So this was from earlier in the evening. There was a lot going on in a short period of time as the Canucks landed for their game this weekend in New Jersey.

Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alvin essentially conducted dueling media availabilities. We aired Patrick Alvin shortly about, I guess, what, about a half hour, 45 minutes ago. Patrick Alvin also appeared on SportsNet 650 with Bick and Jamie. What we've got now for you is the president of hockey ops, Jim Rutherford, meeting with assembled media, also via Zoom, breaking down the Quinn Hughes trade, how it came to be, the ramifications from it. We'll let it run.

It's about 17 minutes in length. Here is Canucks president of hockey ops, Jim Rutherford, in the aftermath of the Quinn Hughes trade. Tell us about this deal, Jim, and, you know, what your thoughts are and who you're getting and what it means for the franchise. It's probably the biggest trade in franchise history. So tell us what you think. Well, this thought process has been going on for a while.

Kind of had an indication for a year and a half now that Quinn was probably not going to stay here after this contract. But nothing concrete until probably around training camp or in this offseason that it looked close to 100% that he wasn't. And so kind of felt that in order to give us any leverage and not get painted into the corner with one team and wait till the trade deadline or wait till next summer, we felt that trying to do a deal in December or the first half of January would give us the most leverage. and so the process probably started a couple of weeks ago with understanding that that New Jersey was the potential team

and trying to at least get Quinn into the eastern time zone to meet his needs being closer to his brothers and family and through that there were different teams, that inquired and we talked to and made offers and then out of the blue in the last five to seven days get a call from Minnesota from Billy Garen and saying I'm reading all this stuff is there any chance of us getting in and I was the one talking to Billy and I said to Billy that feel free to jump in but you know your the odds are against you based on on Quinn's criteria and I've always tried to make it you know obviously my job is to make it work best for the for the team for the Vancouver Canucks but keep in mind what the player wants and I've dealt with this before with Flurry and Shanahan and and a few other guys and J.T. Miller got them to the places they wanted to go to and so tried to do that with Quinn and but when Minnesota

came along and started talking to them and they made their offer and talked through it it was clearly the best one and so then there was a process of letting the other teams have another chance

seeing if Quinn had interest in going to Minnesota at this point in time and got to that point and he thought that at this time Minnesota would be a good fit for this year. Where it goes from there, that's up to everybody else.

It's out of our hands. So it's difficult trading a player like Quinn. You know, we love him as a person and as a player, one of the greatest players ever played for the Canucks. I think that we have to respect what he's done here and respect the fact that he was getting closer to free agency and he'd have a choice to go where he wanted. but what this means for the Canucks

we've you know people throw around different words what's the direction of the Canucks so I believe that we've been in a rebuild here for a little bit and we've been able to acquire some good young players but this move today gives us some really good young players

it may not change our team in the next few months or even this season but this doesn't have to be a full-bone rebuild where it's going to take five or seven years. We keep going the direction we're going to go in. We're going to get a really good player in June, and this thing can turn for the Canucks, certainly within the next couple of years.

Jim, you mentioned earlier before the Minnesota group got involved that there were some offers with other teams that have gone back and forth. I know that you're not going to tell us, too, but how close were you prior to this to getting anything done here? Well, I would say pretty close prior to Minnesota getting involved with a team. But, you know, there were some things that didn't work for us in their offer, and we didn't have to get in a hurry to do this. You know, I'd certainly like to get it done by the middle of January.

But then when Minnesota got involved and we got to the point where this was their offer, then it was pretty much moving in their direction and nobody else came close to it. You said Quinn gave you this indication a year and a half ago. Yet when you made the move with JT last year, You wanted veteran players. We're able to flip the picks and get some guys that are a little more established. Was there any thought 18 months ago that maybe we need to take a step back and try to get a bit younger now and maybe use those picks instead of flip them?

It just feels like a different path then than what you're doing now. Well, even though you have picks, I think you still have to have other players. You can't have all young players. and if you're if you're acquiring veteran players you want to have character guys that have the leadership that can mentor younger players so i don't think that changed but when i said a year and a half ago there were just signs of him it wasn't that it was for sure a year and a half ago that that he wasn't going to stay okay so i don't from our point of view i don't think there's a major change here if you go back to day one when I came here I said I wanted to acquire a bunch of guys in their mid-20s or younger and we pretty much stuck to that we've added some veteran players but the veteran players have a purpose

they're they're mentors for these guys you can't if you just go with all young players it can get too frustrating but we will stick with that plan and the majority of people that we add going forward will be younger yeah okay so then you said in training camp that maybe it was a little more crystallized that Quinn at that point wasn't going to extend long term so participation at some point where he just said to you look don't you know don't make your plans around me being here forever to that that conversation happen I would say it goes back into the off season uh most of my conversations are with the agent You know, I mean, I talked to Quinn and, you know, even I've had them over for dinner.

You know, we have a very good relationship. But it was indicated at that time, probably at some point in the offseason that it was highly unlikely that he was going to sign an extension here, that he wanted to be closer to his. family, closer to his brothers, wanted to play with his brothers at some point. It doesn't mean it has to be in the next couple of years. He could do it in his 30s, I suppose. So that was really around the time that I was pretty much 100% sure that there wasn't going to be any convincing him to change his mind. Did Quinn or Pat Brousan come to you as far as the timing goes and you talked about

the leverage that you would have? if he made this trade now rather than waiting. Did they come to you at any point and say, you know, this is getting difficult, let's just make a move now, or do you think that Quinn had you decided not to make this move, would Quinn have been okay completing the season here and then making his decisions in the summer? Yeah, there was no force from their side as to when this has had. had to be done. And, you know, you'd have to ask Quinn if he was okay with staying through the whole year.

I mean, I think we've had conversations with some of the media people expressing that they could see Quinn's frustration. So would he have stayed through the end of the year? I'm sure he would have. I mean, you look at last night's game. I mean, he played really hard in last night's game. There haven't been games where he hasn't played. hard he was a true pro and uh but it it was it was clear that it was it was getting harder for him knowing based on where the team was at with the injuries we had and losing that it was uh it was

getting harder for him and had when you had this deal with bill garrings and you put to pat If Quinn had said, no, I don't want to go to Minnesota, would that be at the end of it, or would you, I mean, because he couldn't really dictate to you per se, but would you have, would you have heated his wishes if he didn't want to go to Minnesota? I don't know the answer to that. I haven't really thought about it because he had to think about it. There wasn't a big pushback initially. And certainly they had to have conversations about it. But again, my job is to do what's best for the Canucks, despite the fact I want to do what's best for the player as a person. So I don't know the answer to that question. So, Jim, you had mentioned some of those big names that you have traded in past,

some from other teams. So I don't know if you can afford as a president or a GM to become overly tentamental. attacking players. But there's obviously a level of excitement to these guys that you're getting. Is there a level of sadness about the

guy you're giving up? There's definitely a level of sadness. I really care for this person. I really respect him. It's the way our business is. You work

towards getting that opportunity to be free to make your own decision. And that's what I respect about them. But today isn't my saddest day. I've had a lot of them along the way this season, one from team performance and injuries we've dealt with, but two, worrying for a number of months that we were not going to get a good value in return for Quinn. And so I can say today that I feel under the first,

circumstances. We got good value in return, and I'm very excited about these players. We tried to get Rossi for a long time now because we knew we needed help at center. The young defenseman is a special, special player, and he's got such a high ceiling going forward. And of course, with Ogrin, he's another first-round pick that's still developing and should become a regular player for the Canucks at some point in time. So, yeah, getting Marco and Z and O'Grath and then a first round pick on top of it, I think that we did pretty well. A particular question you mentioned there, how this may be a quicker turnaround as opposed

to requiring like a five, six year kind of rebuild. Along those lines, had a couple of follow-up questions. And you've now got the Minnesota pick as an extra first rounder. Do you view that pick as like a need to hold it and need to draft somebody with that pick? Or would you be open-minded to the possibility of using that as a trade asset? And secondly, if this is a quicker turnaround, do you anticipate that there may not be a very deep teard-down process in terms of some of your other core play? players with term, you know, such as the Connor Garland, you know, Brock Bessers, Philopronix, those kinds of players.

Well, those guys are still relatively young guys. I mean, they can grow with the younger guys. And that's my point. I think that we've built up a fairly good group of younger players now. And we've added these and we'll get a good player in the summer. so my point is I don't believe we have to go to a full-blown rebuild where we just trade all the players we have sure we're going to trade some players away we're going to get more draft capital

and we're not going to go shocking our first pick at a player now if some team has a really good young player that's in mid-20s or young that's worth a first round pick, would we consider doing that? Yeah, I suppose so, but we're not looking to flip that pick. How long has been entertaining offers now?

Is it ever since kind of Elliott broke the story, what, two weeks ago that maybe you guys wrote for business? Has there been a lot of teams contacting you on Quinn as I assume there have been? Well, you know, that memo was different. That memo was more about our UFAs. Instead of waiting until the trade deadline, we're open for business now on guys that are UFAs. It wasn't open for everybody. It wasn't even referring to Quinn.

It was quiet for a couple of weeks on Quinn, and then the calls started coming into Patrick. Patrick had a lot on his plate, so he said, asked me to help. And so I said, I would take the lead on Quinn's trade. And so really it's been probably a couple of weeks or maybe a week and a half where it opened up with Quinn and started talking to some of those teams in the east. And then just of late, that's when Minnesota jumped in. Jim, did you feel that, like Adam said a couple of days ago, that the room was feeling this,

just the weights of everything going on, the players are hearing it, they were feeling it. Did you get a sense of that as well, and that maybe it was important to get this done sooner than later so that they could just be a little bit free to play? I don't have a feel for the room. I'm not down there, and the coaches are the guys that have more of a sense of. that. So, and Adam has had expressed that to me, so it wasn't anything new, but I don't have a good feel for it.

I'm based on my experience over the many years, I would suspect it would, you know, and not only that, you know, with the memo going out and some other players potentially could get traded. They might, they might not. But, you know, that makes it uneasy for some guys, too. that was canucks president of hockey ops jim rutherford in the aftermath of orchestrating the biggest trade in franchise history Quinn hughes no longer remember the vancouver canucks now a member of the minnesota wild there's a lot to unpack from that audio and a lot as we go into the second hour of the program coming up on the other side we'll answer the question that was thrown out there just how long will a rebuild take can't be quick will it be longer we'll discuss that also thomas drance from the athletic vancouver and canucks talk is going to join us at 830 as we unpack an awful lot of from a very eventful night in the history of the Vancouver Canucks.

You're listening to The Halford & Brough Show with Jamie Dodd on SportsNet 650. Special late-night edition, special Quinn Hughes Trade Edition here on SportsNet 650. They made the call. we said there's no way we're missing tonight. What a profound evening in the history of the Vancouver Canucks, the history of this radio station, the history of sports in this market. Quinn Hughes, no longer remember the Vancouver Canucks.

Now remember the Minnesota Wilde in case you somehow missed it and haven't been listening for the last three and a half, four hours. Lots to unpack from the first hour of this show. We kick things off at 7 o'clock. Talk to Joe O'Donnell, radio play-by-playman. For the Minnesota Wild, he broke down what the Canucks are getting in return for Quinn Hughes.

but I think more importantly, we played the audio from Kinnock's president of hockey ops, Jim Rutherford. I guess that was the first time pretty much everybody heard that. To set the stage, Jim conducted his own media availability, while his general manager, Patrick Alvin, was conducting his media availability. Suffice to say, Jim had a few more things to say than Patrick, as is often the case. He's a little bit more verbose.

Interesting thing, a lot of takeaways, but the one in particular that stood out to everyone, was the use of the word rebuild and the speed in which they think they can do it. So I asked Jason Brough and Jamie Dodd, how fast do you guys think they're going to be able to rebuild this thing? Not as fast as they think they are. Yeah, that sounds bad. And it's still, he stopped just short if we can turn this around quickly, which is the famous Jim Benning line, but it wasn't far off. But Jim Benning was new to the situation.

This is your situation. Quinn Hughes was the only guy. on the roster that they hadn't either traded for or extended. Everyone now, everyone is their responsibility on this roster. It's 32nd in the league and yet it's, and you just

lost your best player. Oh, no. Full rebuild? No, that's crazy. No, no, no. Two years. Look, kudos to them if they can pull it off. I don't understand how on earth that's the direction we're here in right now. How are they going to have star

players on this team enough star players on this team to turn this team into a contender in two years. How did they do that? A lot of people are bringing up the picture from the All-Star game a couple of years ago where I guess they had Hughes, Miller, Besser, Besser, Lindholm,

although they'd just gotten him. Yeah, and the coach was there too. Yep. Right, Rick Tocke. So they got Besser and Pedersen left? That's right. right and peterson isn't the player that he was when he made that all-star game well quite frankly neither's better and in large part and in large part because there's no j t miller or p leas peterson anymore

your wingers are often their production is you know very much related to the quality of their center group um no their center group how do you think their center group could be in two years because Coots is coming and I'm not to talk about next season but, you know, in a couple of years players usually start to really break out an NHL level like 21 or 22 is that fair to say?

Yeah, around that age, okay? So he's maybe a couple years away from that. Who knows about Petey? I don't know. And frankly, who knows about Rossi? I'll be very curious. You know, I will say one thing. I'm more interested in watching the games now

because I want to see what these guys look like. sure. Yep. And I will, look, I'm not saying they're going to get better because they just traded Quinn Hughes. I'm not happy, but I'm more interested. But they do at least, once Elias Pedersen is back in the lineup and Marka Rossi's injured too, by the way, so that's fun. But that's better center depth than they've had since Philippaedal was injured right away. Just having hey, these are two real centers, real NHL centers. But to your point about what could their center depth look like in a few years, it really does hinge on Elias Pedersen. And I don't want to, look, I know I'm here with Brough, so we're going to talk about PD.

They could. I don't think there doesn't look to necessarily be one at the top of the draft this year, but I can imagine a world. Let's say Elias Pedersen bounces back, and I don't think this is going to happen, but it bounces back to peak Elias Pedersen. And then some combination of Coots and Rossi behind that, okay, that's interesting at least. But if Elias Pedersen is this Elias Pedersen, then you're just looking at, okay, we've got a bunch of middle six centers and where are we going with that? See, I think, don't take this wrong way, but I think conceptually both of you guys are looking at it wrong right now. How dare you? Yeah.

What should we do? I don't think that thinking about what the Kinex Center position should look like in one or two years based on what they have and then what's in their stockpile should be the answer. This should be, if this is going to work properly and they've given away the best defenseman in franchise history, not giving away, but trade him away, is that this should be a sign. And this is out of the Dant's textbook, but it's never more appropriate to bring up right now. This should be a sign that everything needs to get started again. And like you can't say, well, if Coots turns into this, or if Pedersen bounces back and stop relying on the gifts and wends,

just give yourself more ammo in the chamber and be like, if it doesn't work out, if Pedersen doesn't return to form. If Coots doesn't become a top one or two center, if Rossi doesn't pan out, we're not screwed again. We've got other options and we've got plans B, C, D, all the way to even. Go all the way to E if you have to. I don't think it's going to happen. I don't think, I think this is a fool's errand to bring this up. But we've talked about all of these rebuilds throughout the NHL. And there's one consistent with all of the rebuilds.

And I don't think we talk about it enough. It's that not every draft pick pans out across the board. Across the board, at every rebuild, someone doesn't work out. You either get enamored with the wrong guy or you fell too far in love with one of the stories that they told at the combine or whatever. And you bit on a prospect that doesn't work. It happens everywhere, everywhere. It's naive to think that you're going to go in there and you're going to bat a thousand at the draft.

And, you know, I think Coots might be a very good player. Coots might also not work out. I don't know, right? Or it might just be like a decent player. Yeah. In which case you're still answering the question, what does the center position look like? Well, and what, who are the elite players

that are going to lead this team? You need it. Like the Canucks, look, you go back to, you know, when they got Burray. there's a reason why a couple of years later they were playing in a Stanley Cup final yeah they had a bunch of other guys Trevor Linden and they made some nice trades but you know Burray allowed them to take their game to a completely another level look at the 2011 team there's three first ballot Hall of Famers on that team

Roberto Luongo and the Sidines had a Selkie winner on that team star star players were on that team and you know the bar has been dropped just so low in the city and naturally it has to the point where, you know, people are texting into our morning show and be like, yeah, they played pretty well against the sabers though. Yeah, but they lost to the sabers at home. Like, do you know how far we have, you have to go to be like, well, they probably deserved better. Well, I hope so. They were playing the Buffalo Sabres at home. They became the first team to lose at home to the Buffalo Sabres. The climb back is so big. And hopefully it's going to be interesting to watch them climb back. There's a reason I asked about the culture

problem. What does this team stand for? What is this team stand for? To your question about, okay, who are going to be the elite players that lead them to a Stanley Cup? I think if you're trying to do the most rose-colored glasses on today of all days, you say best case scenario, here's what it is. Zeev Bouillon turns into a top pairing defense, number one defenseman, and whoever they pick this year. Top five pick, we get it, and that guy is an elite player. Both of those things could happen, certainly not a guarantee. You're still short. You're still short

in elite player. You've got to find another one. And Zeev Bouem just turned 20. Whoever they're going to pick in the draft is, what, 17, 18, right now. And this is what drives me nuts about when Rutherford is asked about guys like Connor Garland and Brock Besser, well, they're still relatively young. No, they're not.

Not by NHL terms. And if there's an eight, like Brock Bessor's 28. He was drafted in 2015. Zeevibium was drafted nine years later. Their primes are not going to coincide. Why are you saying, well, yeah, well, just adds the ability to Brock Besser. It's not going to work. It's not going to hit all at the same time.

And yet they're still don't, they don't seem to be even letting themselves imagine. Like, maybe we could trade a Connor Garland. Maybe we could trade a Brock Besser. Instead, it's, no, no, we'll just add some more young players to these guys. Yeah. I mean, I think he did say that we might trade some more veteran players, but maybe he was talking about Kiefer-Shirwood.

and that type of player. Amanda Cairn. Good luck. I would like, and I think a lot of the fans would like, I won't speak for everyone, but to your point, Halford, I think what people want is for the Canucks to assemble so many draft picks

that you almost forget about some of the guys. You're like, oh yeah, they've got that too. It's like, this is basketball, but Oklahoma City is already like an unbelievable team and they've got a bunch more draft picks coming. Yeah. You know, and if you look at, I realize, like, a team like Chicago hasn't arrived yet.

And by the way, I hope Connor Bedard's okay. It looks like you got her tonight. But they've had so many picks. They've had so many picks in the first round. Something like, Cameron, didn't we talk about this on our show? It was like 13 in the last few years, while the Canucks have had, you know, like three or something like that because they've traded away some of their first round picks.

So you can have guys that are like, yeah, you know what? You didn't really pan out. Well, that's okay, because we got a lot more. With the Canucks, you go back on some of their picks, and it was just so devastating when they didn't pan out. Vertanin doesn't pan out. Not good. You know, you levy doesn't pan out.

That was devastating. And it was all the more devastating because they didn't have any other picks. Mm-hmm. I you know the next part of this the most obvious question is is this management group going to stay in place for the long term to redo this whole thing because even tonight's like Jim Rutherford has is his job is safe even tonight folks listening right now even tonight was a a nice little snapshot of it's not fair to call it dysfunctional because they in the end they got the job done and they got what they wanted accomplished but there's a real disconnect and there's a real sort of like who's leading the charge here. that has growing by the day when people ask what's going on with the Vancouver Connects.

Why is the president of hockey ops and the general manager speaking at the same time? Why is the general manager saying we're going to go to the draft in June and make that pick and the president of hockey ops saying, well, we might consider moving it

if a good player becomes available? And I know that you don't want to paint yourself into corn and you want to leave all options open, but why is the president of hockey ops taking over the biggest trade in franchise history from a general manager who he says has too much on his plate, like none of it really makes a lot of sense. Yeah.

I don't think anyone is enamored. You got too much on your plate, so I'm just going to orchestrate the biggest trade in franchise history. I'll just take that off your plate. You delegate the most important thing you got over there in the corner of the, I'll take that. You delegate the most important thing, right? The biggest most important thing, that's the one you delegate.

I'll take the crispy duck and the Quinn Hughes trade, the unfinished Quinn Hughes trade. I'll take that with me. Like, that seems nuts to me. It is. And I know Rutherford talks off the cup, and he makes, he's a good quip and he's a good quote. But at a certain point, you have to wonder if two guys who made their mark in the NHL and their bread and butter was building teams, building teams, not building stockpiling cupboards and drafting and developing, building teams out, like not setting the foundation because maybe they're just not the right guys and they don't have the right mindset for what I think should ultimately be the job here.

Like at this point, it's to be the rebuild should be scorched earth, right? anyone should be up and available for deals and they should be moving heaven and earth to try and get rid of all those no movement clauses that they've handed out to these guys, right? You should be going to Connor Garland and look anybody's up for grabs now. You might be next.

Go to Bester and be like, look, we've just moved Quinn. We can move you. Everyone should be up and available for trade at this point. Detroit, Brian Texan, it's funny, I've watched all the national media on Sportsnet. All reporting Canucks got a massive haul, but Vancouver media is so down. on it. Not down on the hall. I don't think we're down on the return. I don't think we're down on the

connection. I got to say collectively, I think the media nailed this one, which is it's going to look underwhelming when it happens. Of course it is, because you're losing Quinn Hughes, but in the context of how these deals work and what they were working on, I think they did fine. To be fair, to Detroit, Brian's point, we did say at the outset of the show, if you didn't hear it, it's not your fault. It's fine. This is the show and the narrative arc that we were going to take was going to be about the best player, I think, and the best defenseman in franchise history and the biggest trade to send the guy out all got orchestrated within the last two hours and there's going to be a sense of mourning about it because he's

not a connect anymore yeah and the reasons for leaving were not a fight with another teammate or a contract dispute or that he had his nose out of joint and demanded a trade none of that was part of it it was that the team stunk and stunk to the point where they needed to move on from them so to Detroit wanted to move on from right but to Detroit Brian's point like the return to me is a day two or day three story right now. Yeah, it's a future story. And look, you know what? It's a good return.

They basically had the equivalent of four first round picks. I'm happy they got it. Sounds like it was the best deal that rather than got. But there's no guarantee that among those four assets there's going to be a star player.

No, but you never were going to get that guarantee. No. That was never going to. That's why teams don't want to trade Quinn Hughes. While you only do it when you've been painted into a corner and you feel like you have to go down that road. And again, that's why I think it's fair to look at it

and say it's underwhelming while also understanding that they did as well as you could reasonably expect them to do here. Yeah. Okay. We should probably go to break. There's a lot going on. We've only got a half hour left

in the program, and who better to bring it in to close it out than Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Talk. I'm not sure that he expected that he'd be doing a late-night hit on a Friday in the wake.

Is this really late night for Dranzer? He's in New York. No, I know, but is it still. Well, doesn't he stay up to like three in the morning? Actually, there's a hockey game on. 11.30 p.m. Eastern, that's second brunch territory right there. So I don't.

I don't know what Drancer's doing. We will find out next. Once again, I just want to reset. Thank you all for joining us. You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Jamie Dodd is along with us. We've been here since 7 o'clock. We're going to go all the way through till 9.

We'll talk to Drancer next and put a cap on a wild, eventful and unforgettable evening as the Canucks have traded Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show with Jamie Dodd on SportsNet 650. 8.30 in the evening on a Friday. It's Halford. It's Brough. It's Jamie Dodd. It's SportsNet 650. What is going on? I'll tell you what's going on. Biggest trade in Kentucky's franchise history. I'll ask Dranx that question, too. If this descriptor that I've been throwing around ad nauseum all evening, if it's accurate,

if it passes the Drant's smell test. You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show with Jamie Dodd on Sports 965. We've been here for an hour and a half. We've got a half hour left. We thought what better way to cap off what has truly been a defining day in the history of the Vancouver Canucks franchise that was one of its greatest voices.

Thomas Drans from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk joins us now on the Halford & Brough show with Jamie Dodd on Sports 10650. What up, Dranser? Gentlemen, man, it is a awful day. for the franchise, and that can't be sugar-coded. You know, I don't hate this trade given where the Canucks

found themselves, but we have to start by really focusing in on just how awful it is that the Vancouver Canucks netted a defenseman, a skater of this quality, right? Because Quinn uses a defenseman, but he's the only defense. in the NHL, and that includes Cal McCar, by the way, who impacts the game in all phases

as if he were an elite center, right? I mean, Quinn Hughes, it, Quinn Hughes is like a superhero who bends space and time. The game changes entirely when he's on the ice. He tilts the ice, like basically no player I've ever seen, and especially across the last couple years when he worked on his shot and elevated his own sort of number in terms of his decision making, like became this goal scoring threat that when they were playing that conservative puck possession Rick Tock at hockey, you just saw Quinn like take a can opener to opposing defenses. I mean, we're talking about a guy who is top 10 in the NHL in assists per game ever, like including forwards, forget defensemen, right?

I mean, we're talking about a really special playmaker. a completely unguardable presence. And the Canucks, despite a long history of misfortune in the draft lottery, right? Got him at seventh overall, in part because, you know, John Shaker and Kenny Holland, I guess just decided to gift the Canucks a franchise player. And, you know, realistically, it was because he was considered small and was he going to be good at defense. And by December of his first NHL season, a year and a half, half after he was drafted, he was playing hard minutes on this pair with Chris Tanniv.

And, you know, he carried himself thoughtfully. He's one of the smartest players I've ever covered off the ice, not to mention his on-ice intelligence. The fact that this franchise was unable to find the pieces required to support a transformative, transcendent defenseman. The sort of defenseman that Jason Brough and presumably all of his ancestors have spent centuries praying would ever play in Vancouver. We mentioned that earlier in the show. Yeah, I mean, but like seriously, that was like your bit for years. That was my schick. I know, and then you got one.

I know. Now it's gone. And this franchise just couldn't figure out how to put it. The Brough's back in the old country on a horse and buggy, just waiting for Quinn Hughes one day. One day. Yeah, where is the defenseman now? And we have to be so, so serious about the dad. of the failure that we're discussing.

The Canucks drafted Quinn Hughes seventh overall in 2019, no, 18, 2018. And across an eight-year period with him reaching his 99th percentile outcome, becoming a historically great defenseman, not just historically great defenseman, but a defenseman who's the only guy in the league who impacts the two-way flow of play, as if he were an elite center, they never made the playoffs in back-to-back years. Right? I mean, just sit with that.

Just sit with that. Before we get into the trade, because I actually think, given the circumstances, this is fine. Or at least it sets up to be fine. But the fact that this is what we're talking about today, the fact that we're here, and I know everyone just wants to talk about the value

and the new guys. And I know that people don't want to sit with this, but I think it's really important, before we pivot that we just dwell on the magnitude of what's happened and the magnitude of what's been lost and the fact that Quinn Hughes is Canucks tenure, right? This is a player so good that his accolades already like belong on a banner with the number 43 on it

that hangs above the ice at Rogers Arena and he played like six years for the team. The fact that we're here in discussing this today is, you know, beyond tragic, right? It's, it's heartbreaking for this franchise. And I think we have to start there and really sit with it and dwell on that because that's what today means fundamentally. Quinn Hughes is no longer a Vancouver Canuck. And that's because of a host of errors that brought us to this point. Will the organizations sit in this and feel it and ask themselves, how did it get to this point? I hope so. I hope so. I mean,

Do I have the answer for you? I don't think I do. Because I don't know that they're there yet. But I think it's coming. And at the very least, I'll say this about the trade, right? You get Marco Rossi, and Marco Rossi is an NHL player now. But Marco Rossi is not fixing this, right? You get Zbume.

Zbumes. Oh, sorry, it's Boo-ium, right? Zeev Bouillon. And Boullum is like a really intriguing prospect. I mean, you look through his production comparables, 19-year-old defenseman, you know, 25% of them become superstars. Another 25% of them become top pair guys. And most of the guys that don't make it who produce like he has at 19,

they're either like Brad Stewart and they still play 15 years, but mostly those guys are defensive guys. Andre Majaros would be like your low-end comp. Remember him? Former Vancouver Giant? Yeah. Or guys like Ryan Murray, right, whose career was waylaid by injuries, right? I mean, for the most part, you're talking about Morgan Riley, you're talking Miro Haskinen, you're talking Cam Fowler.

I mean, you were talking star-level defenders. I mean, that's what he's already accomplished, and not to mention the fact that this guy is a winner, right? I mean, this guy is a winner at the collegiate level. At every level he's played, this guy's won. And, you know, so the thing about Bouillon, though, is defensively is not ready to be a top pair guy. I mean, if you're playing Valander, Elias Pedersen, and Booiam every night, you're giving up goals. You're giving up scoring chances, right? Like, so they got some guys who are going to play right away, but no one that is standing between them and the 30-second play.

It's spot in the standings at the end of the season. And by the way, I think the club knows this. I think the club has accepted this. And I think for the first time, certainly in my seven years since I returned from Florida, but frankly, the first time in my memory, the first time since, you know, Brian Burke in 1998-99, I think the Canucks are prepared to sink. I think the Canucks are prepared to have tanks roll down Griffith's way. I think the Canucks are prepared.

Not that they want this to be long, not that they're committing to a four or five year build the way that I think they probably should, but at the very least, I think their plan to turn this around quickly prominently features. I often say that I think this. I'm telling you this.

This is true. The plan to turn this around quickly prominently features them landing a top three pick at the 2026 NHL entry draft and that's where we're headed now. So with that in mind, Drance, that reporting about the club's

mentality for the rest of this season because there's 51 games remaining here. And there's a bunch of players that certainly if they were to, some are already on the trade block and drawing lots of interests. Others, if they put them on the trade block, would draw lots of interest.

How deep do you think the team is prepared to make further cuts? And I don't mean even like two years down the road. I mean right in the here and now, before the trade deadline this year, how deep do you think they're prepared to do it and in your view what should the next few months going into the trade deadline look like for this team well first of all i think you put that too politely jami okay you're you're like

they have a lot of players that if they put on the block would draw a lot of interest do they yes they do like are are we really sure though yes i mean sherwood yes philiproner lander Connor Garland. Okay, Philip Peronix up, or his contract last until he's 32 and he's got a full no move clause and I promise you his agent would enforce his rights to the health.

Sure. That's not an easy deal. That's not an open auction. Jim Rutherford's also putting the word rebuild out there and you know that's a dirty word for NHL players, right? You don't think that changes the calculus on some of the no move clauses?

I'm just saying that's not an auction. That's not going to be one No, but it's a deal that can be done. It's a deal that can be done, but, I mean, it's probably team specific. It's a big commitment. It lasts a long time. And that's true for Garland.

And that's true for Besser. And that's true. Like, you're talking in terms of, in terms of assets that this team has on the roster where you call up any team in the NHL and they'd be like, oh, yeah, we're really interested in that. Let's figure it out. It's Sherwood. It's Tom Blander.

And it's some of the players that they just acquired from the Minnesota Wild. I mean, I think it's really important, too, that we sit in just how little value this team has on the NHL roster, right? Like, I really think that this is a big part of why this trade matters because they just added, like, probably the third, fourth, and fifth most valuable assets to the organization, you know, not counting first round picks or futures like Braden Coots. Tonight, tonight, now they traded their first most valuable asset,

obviously to accomplish that. But truly, like, you know, I think it's really important that we reflect on just how little, of sort of, you know, monetizable value this team has and had in their lineup. So, you know, look, I think the expiring guys and the older players, right, you talk about does the NMC, or sorry, does the Quinn Hughes trade and the fact that this organization is going to be willing to sink to the bottom of the standings change things? Does it change things for a player like Tyler Myers? Right. Like that to me is the question more than, more than Philipronic.

Do I think they're going to go as deep as considering Pedersen, Heronic, and Demco? I don't have that sense right now. You know, I'd be surprised by that at this point. In my mind, in my mind, like step one, you can't have $13 million in net if you're a team that is entering a multi-year rebuilding stretch, period. Right? Like one of those goleys, you've got to find a way to move.

You know, Pedersen, I mean, if you're entering a two or three-year a, you know, sort of a barren patch with a goal of building something worthwhile on the other side, Pedersen's going to be 30. He's going to be 30 on the other side of that.

But he's aging great on the plus side, Drenz. Oh, my God. Yeah, I mean, you know, I think the question the Canucks and every team around the league considering acquiring Elias Pedersen would ask themselves is as follows.

Are we talking Eichol? Are we talking Lion-A? And I know where Brough comes down on that one. So, yeah, I mean, look, I think they should consider going far deeper. I don't get the sense that they're there yet. But I'd be surprised by things like them trading the Minnesota first for Winnow Help. That would surprise me at this point. I would expect them to expedite moving off of Sherwood for sure.

And then you get into the more complicated pieces. The guys who either have to get healthy like Bluger. The guys who aren't producing and are really only depth players probably worth a late round pick, if that, like David Camp. Guys who have significant question marks around them like Vander Cain and then guys who have their own contractual control, which complicates their value, if they'd even be willing to move it all in season, which I doubt, like Tyler Myers, given his local roots. You know, I think you start there and you sort of look at those guys. Would they be willing to go deeper than that? They should be. I don't know that they're there yet, to be totally honest.

with you. So your answer, this is a bit of a loaded question, but loaded questions are kind of my favorite types of questions. So I'm going to ask you to anyone. I've noticed if I ask you for clarification, are you going to horrify me? How much of this after the Canucks had that season where they went to game seven against the Edmonton Oilers, how much of this could have been foreseen? I'm not that, like, so I'm tempted to say that this was always a house of cards and that I always knew it. And on some level, I think that's not inaccurate, but I would say this has come undone at a level that I didn't anticipate

and at a rate that I wouldn't have guessed. Right. From 20, 23, 24, in part because, you know, I think Talkett's departure really lowered this team's floor defensively in a way that, you know, we, I think we understood. that that was a possibility, but it's been more dramatic than I would have expected. I mean, this team went from being even last year. I mean, forget 20, 23, 24 and what they accomplished defensively down the stretch.

Like, even last year, this was like a top five, fringe top five, top 10, solidly defensive team. And they maintained a pretty high defensive level, even after the Miller trade, even after Petterson got hurt, even after a heedle got hurt on the Jason Dickinson hit. That's gone. I mean, that disappeared in the early part of this season. And they remained just as pop gun offensively in terms of what they actually generate. They've improved a little bit offensively even, but it doesn't matter. I mean, they're still generating, you know, at a below average clip offensively.

So, I mean, I wouldn't have expected them to be 32nd this year. If you told me they'd be 32nd and have traded Quinn Hughes after 31 games this year back in September, I would have said that seems like an extremely unlikely outcome. I'd have priced that out at, you know, a thousand, not a thousand. thousand to one, but certainly 10 to one. I think what's more foreseeable is that the way this club has managed value, right? And I even mean the wins, but like even the wins. So let's just focus on the wins.

Even the J.T. Miller trade, even the Philoporone trade, like even the battles that this organization has won are symptomatic of this drip, drip, drip in which this organization is just. slowly bled value over the years. And that's, you know, a mid-round pick for Lucas Reichael, a mid-round pick for Emerson Edom. I mean, the whole crash-out list that I've been reading on Canucks talking, yelling about. Restrain yourself, buddy. Focus, focus, focus.

I will, I will. I'm not going to do it. The crash-it is. It's the crash-out list, right? It's the true crash-out I had when I recognized that the only pick the Canucks ever netted for a member of the 2010-11 Golden Era Canucks was the first they got for Ryan, and used to select Jared McCann, who was traded for Eric Good Branson. And they actually added picks to that deal in order to bring in Good Branson.

And I just couldn't believe it, right? And it's just, but this is, this is how this team has functioned. They've just bled this sort of drip, drip, drip. And so it's been slow. It's been slow. And the team has mostly been mid as opposed to horrible. And so people have been able to ignore the extent to which this organization is, you know, sort of seen their cup empty, drip by drip, bad deal by bad deal, bad future by bad future. Like little things, like trading a third for Jason Dickinson and then trading a second to get off of Jason Dickinson, right? Using your calf space on Ilya and then paying your draft pick to get off of

Yelium McAev, right? Just this constant drip drip in which you're limiting your swings to find a guy who would have mattered, to find one of those Fraser Mitten types or a Justin sort of types or whomever. That was foreseeable. Like the fact that that wouldn't work in the big picture was desperately obvious. And people have been talking about it, you know,

not just me. People have been talking about that for years in this market. And so for me, that was the obvious part, but how dramatically this has come undone in terms of the Canucks falling from that sort of middle tier where if things went right, they could look good. And if things went bad, it would look bad. Like, this is not a season in which the team was mid and things have looked bad.

This is now truly one of the worst teams in hockey. And I think when you look at their holdings, too, especially prior to this huge trade, like, there's nothing there. Like, like, they don't have players that matter. They don't have assets that matter. And that, to me, was more foreseeable and sort of less excusable. So, Janser, you're out on the road, so I presume you'll be at practice tomorrow morning in Newark. Yeah.

So who's the, who are the, who are the, Who are the guys that you're looking forward to chatting with? Well, I mean, I'm curious to talk to some of the expiring guys, especially some of the vets. So, like, Myers for me is high on the list just because, you know, I know how settled he is in Vancouver and how comfortable he is and how big a priority his family is. But at some point, too, Myers hasn't won a cup.

We're only two years removed from Tyler Myers, you know, being a hard match with Connor McDavid in a seven-game playoff series. I mean, Tyler Myers, at $3 million a year, that's a guy that can help a good team if he were willing to move. Yeah. If he's in a structured environment, too, because I think he thrived on that system. Yeah, like, he'd be such a sick, Rod Brindamore defenseman. Right. Like, so I'd be curious to know, like, how have you felt the last 12 hours, like, since this trade went down?

How do you think about it? You know, I'm curious, if, I'm curious, like, I don't know if Elias Pedersen will even participate because he's been hurt. but you know you're going to be the face of this franchise and it seems like you hate talking to me to me not just me to all of us you know what how are you thinking about that right like this is this is on you now um those are the sorts of questions i'm curious to ask um i'm curious to see what the mood is like i mean i would assume that it's not going to be great and then we'll see which new guys are there i mean not exactly hard to fly from minneapolis to newark right are we going to see Zeeve? Are we going to see Marco Rossi? I mean, he hasn't played since November. So

when does he get in the lineup? Jonathan Licaramacki, if he's there, right? Like, you know, him and Liam Ogrin go back. They played a bunch of SHL hockey together and played great as sort of wingers on the same line. I'll be curious to ask about that. So look, I got to take attendance and see who's there, but those are the sort of the questions or angles that I'm thinking about at this point as I sort of write some notes down and prepare to cover what I assume will be, you know, a pretty memorable Canucks practice tomorrow. Drans, before we let you go, I know it's late, but, you know, in the lead up to this, there was over the last 10 days, two weeks, there was a lot of speculation about what was

happening behind the scenes at Rogers Arena in the Canucks organization. And could there be a change in management regime change, as Jason Brough memorably framed it? Now, I think the fact that Jim Rutherford was allowed to trade Quinn Hughes is about it allowed as vote of confidence as you could possibly get from ownership, right? That he was allowed to execute this deal is the idea of changes at the top of the organization. Should that be completely off our radar right now? And if so, like how long does that stay or that ceasefire maybe last in your eyes? I mean, if that's not completely off the table now, then we've got way bigger problems than who's managing the Canucks, right?

I mean, that has to be off the table now. If we get regime change within, I mean, honestly, within 18 months of this trade. No, honestly, within 18 months of this trade. I mean, like, if you were to try and estimate, estimate, sort of what's the monetary value of this decision for the Canucks franchise? Right. And, I mean, it's impossible to accurately do, right? But in terms of ticket sales and season ticket renewals and, you know, the club's competitive chances and losing their captain and, you know, merchandise sales and frankly, like even things like assets in arena, right?

I mean, how many things have Quinn Hughes's face on them all around Rogers Arena that are going to have to be taken down and reproduced and replaced? And I mean, this is a billion dollar decision. like I think this is a billion dollar decision straight up especially once you factor in I'm just everything else the impact on franchise values long long range confidence that the market has in this franchise you can't let someone make a billion dollar decision and replace them within a year what are we talking about that's crazy like no no absolutely not I mean if now that you've got here now that Rutherford has made this trade you you better be in better with this management group for at least a couple years, at least that, I mean, I don't see any way around that. I think that would be, at this point, whether or not you have confidence as a fan in Rutherford-Nalveen, if Rutherford and Nalveen are replaced in the next 18 months, I think that's, I mean, that's the canary and the coal mine keeling over dying and like coughing up blood in front of everybody. I mean, that's as bad as it gets. That would be.

And we'll leave you on that note, everyone. What? Am I wrong? That was pretty good. Just kept on going, that poor canary. I know. That poor canary. Why is it in a Canucks jersey?

That's horrible. Anyway. First, it's in a coal mine, then it has to go out like that. Well, I didn't mean to get too dramatic. I didn't know you guys were such PETA guys. All right. Transer up against it for time. We got to go.

It's late where you are. Enjoy brunch. We'll do this again next week. week. Pretty eventful night. Thanks for joining us. Cheers, boys. Bye. See, pal. Thanks, buddy. Thomas Drans from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk here on the late night Halford & Brough Show featuring Jimmy Dodd on Sportsnet, 650. Okay, that's it for us. We did it. We are not done yet with our coverage, though. Josh Ellie Wolf is going to join the program from 9 to 10 p.m. Another hour of extended coverage

on a truly profound night for the Vancouver Canucks. And really, quite frankly, the history of sports in this city. There's not many nights like this one. So don't go anywhere. Keep it on the dial and continue to weigh in. Dunbar Lumber text line, 650, 650. Keep sending your thoughts. Josh will be here for another hour.

For us, though, we got to say goodbye. Guys, it was great doing this with both of you. Tonight of all nights, I know we came in last minute and threw things together, but I thought it went very well. It was a pretty crazy night. And I never thought that we'd actually be in this situation, even though I knew it was coming, you know, when those things happened where I really can't believe it.

Yeah. Well, it's here. And it was going to come, I think. And Quinn Hughes is now no longer a member of the Vancouver Canucks. Big game Sunday morning. Signing off for now, I have been Mike Halpert. He's been Jason Brough. He's been Jamie Dodd.

This has been the special edition of the Halford & Bruff show with Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet, 650.